Wraith
by Capslock
Summary: Wraith, the invisible assassin and master of poisons, has been hired by an evil scientist to kidnap four of the X men
1. Default Chapter

"I am Wraith."  
  
  
  
The forest outside the institute was peaceful, serene. Birds sang, bees buzzed, leaves cast dappled green shadows on the ground. The forest lived on, unaware of his invisible presence, only the ground beneath his feet knew. The forest's beauty was wasted on him, partially because his left was pale and cloudy, blinded by the same thing that created the long vertical scar that ran from his eyebrow, through his eye, and down his cheek; and partially because his mind only held the dusty, neglected memory of the thing called emotion. He viewed the world through his one sharp eye with cold calculation, his mind only accepting facts, all feelings of human passion long dead. Although he had no artificial metal parts implanted into his body, he was more machine than human. This, along with the facts that he never missed his mark, could turn invisible and unscented, and was the master of poison made him history's most efficient assassin. This wasn't good enough. There were still things that could stop him, barriers he could not cross, and things that could detect him. He did not like this, it caused a flicker of annoyance in his otherwise emotionless brain, he would have to fix this error. And now he had a way. It was simple: all he had to do was kidnap the one called Wolverine, the one called Shadowcat, the one called Nightcrawler, and most of all, the one called Xavier. He would then take them to the scientist who had hired him, Dr. Apolask, and the Doctor would give him the ability to phase through matter, teleport, and even block telepathic signals and detection. He liked the thought of that. He didn't know what Apolask wanted with Xavier and the other three, but he must have wanted them badly, for the services of Wraith were very, very expensive.  
  
At high noon he moved towards the school. Not that he had to worry about his shadow giving him away, for the very physics of his invisibility was to bend light waves around himself, so the light didn't touch him at all, nothing was seen in the space he occupied. He walked silently towards the place where he spotted his first target: Kitty in a tree. "Easy." He thought to himself, leveling the barrel of his silent rifle with her form. She jumped and gave a little squeak as the dart hit her neck, then toppled out of the tree into Wraith's waiting arms. The second he caught her he extended his invisibility to her, and brought her to his car, which was hidden nearby. After tying, gagging, stashing her in the back seat, and making sure she wouldn't wake up for another 3 hours, he headed back to the mansion. 1 down 3 to go.  
  
Nightcrawler wasn't any harder. He was sitting alone in his room, doing homework. He fell without a sound, and he was light too. The only drawback was that his tail kept getting in the way. After giving him the same treatment he did Kitty, Wraith goes back yet again. 2 down 2 to go.  
  
He knew Wolverine would be harder the second he saw him. For one, he would be a lot more difficult to carry to the car. Secondly, Wolverine was already suspicious.  
  
  
  
Logan sniffed the air…the scents for Kurt and Kitty were gone…but there was something else, he couldn't smell it, but he could feel it. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and he spun around to face the invisible foe 


	2. Ghost Buster

Just then, the professor spoke a telepathic warning in his head, "~I'm picking up a strange hostile mutant signature in the house, be on the alert.~"  
  
"Gotcha." Logan replied, drawing his claws.  
  
"~Behind you!~"  
  
Logan whirled around and charged at the nothing, slashing wildly. His claws made contact with something and it fell with a clang to the floor. The tip of a barrel of a gun, sliced neatly off. He felt the tiniest puff of air caused by movement and turned toward it, then pounced, slashing wildly again, he hit nothing, then swung wide and the tip of one of his claws made contact. Red blood dripped out of the air and fell to the floor. The opened revealing wound in the air soon disappeared, and on the floor, the drops of blood began to eat through the wood with a hisssss. Acidic blood. Logan looked at his claw, very acidic blood, the edge of the claw where he had cut Wraith was eaten away, dulled.  
  
Logan thought to himself, "If I stab this guy, I may never use my claws again…it's a sacrifice I'll have to make. Damn sacrifices."  
  
"~Logan, he's headed down the hall, I think he's going after me. I'm in my office.~"  
  
Logan burst out of the room and into the hall, he ran down, not having anything to look for, he trusted his luck.  
  
  
  
Wraith slipped down the hall. Wolverine was a formidable opponent, but he would be no match one the professor was unable to give him telepathic warnings. "The cut to my arm and the damage to my weapon was largely luck. Wolverine will soon run out of that." He thought to himself. He swung his gun over his shoulder, he would use other weapons to paralyze his next victims until he could get it fixed. He turned a corner, right into the unsuspecting form of Rouge. 


	3. Invisible Hand

OOC: I'm sorry the chapters are short and slow, but I'm not much of a writer. I'm an artist and a reader and I'm also not very loyal to my projects that I start. I am the queen of unfinished projects. But thanks to you two kind reviewers, ill write this one out!  
  
  
  
Wraith felt a flicker of annoyance at this new obstruction, and a flicker of urgency when he heard the sounds of Logan's pursuit coming rapidly closer. He reached up to trigger a pressure point that would knock her out instantly, but when he grabbed her bare neck with his bare hand, the tables were turned and HE was the one who was rendered unconscious.  
  
  
  
Rouge had been walking down the hall when seemingly nothing ran into her. It felt like a person but she couldn't see anything. Before she could react an invisible hand was gripping her neck, and she felt the jolt and flash of absorbing another persons power, energy, and memories. A young man dressed in a black trench coat, who had brown hair a long scar on one side of his face, suddenly materialized out of thin air and clattered unconscious to the floor. Rouge was standing in shock and confusion when Logan skidded around the corner. Rouge spouted, "Ah didn't mean to! It was an accident, he jus' came around and ah couldn't see him and he touched my skin an-"  
  
Logan cut her off, "No no it's ok, you probably just saved the professor, Rouge."  
  
Then the professor spoke up, in both their minds, "Good job Rouge! I owe you my safety. Logan, bring him to my office and make sure he stays knocked out please. Rouge come along too and I will explain."  
  
  
  
A few minutes later, in the Professor's office  
  
"Man this guy is loaded!" Logan exclaimed as he disarmed Wraith. A pile of darts, pouches with various chemicals and poisons, knives, small firearms, a whip, and even a bola lie in the middle of the professor's desk. Logan threw one last poison pouch on the pile and said, "I think that's it for the weapons." Xavier nodded, "Very good, is there anything else on him? Anything that would be a clue as to who he is and what he's doing here?" Logan patted Wraith down again, Professor looked through his wallet, which only had money from various countries, and Rouge dug through the pockets of his trench coat, which had also been removed. She pulled something out of one of the inside obscure pockets, "What about this?" She held it up for all to see, it was a long sturdy cloth with Chinese words embroidered in it. Just then, both Wraith's milky white, and regular brown eyes snapped open.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Wraith instantly assessed his situation. He was in some kind of office, in front of him were Xavier, Wolverine, and the girl who had somehow knocked him out. He was tied tightly to a chair, the girl was holding his trench coat, and a pile of his weapons was laying on the desk. Wolverine moved towards him, his hand clenched in a fist to knock him out again, but the professor stopped him. Professor, "Aah, Wraith, now that you have regained consciousness you can answer questions. Don't bother to lie to me, I am a telepath as you already know."  
  
Wraith nods. He has decided to answer their questions fully and truthfully. It was no use to do otherwise at the moment, he held no loyalty to the Doctor, and it wouldn't matter soon anyways.  
  
"Why did you come here?"  
  
"To kidnap you, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat."  
  
"Did someone hire you?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Dr. Apolask."  
  
"Why does he want us?"  
  
"I know not."  
  
"Have you already gotten Nightrcrawler and Shadowcat?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"Ah yes I see now" professor had located their mental signatures outside near the institute, "Where is Dr. Apolask? Where did he contact you from? Where were you instructed to bring us?"  
  
" I know not where he is now, he contacted me by phone and gave me my instructions in a hidden laboratory complex south of here. That is where I was instructed to bring you."  
  
"What was he offering to pay?"  
  
"Several new technologies: jammers, arsenal, tracking devices, a new phone tapping device, and something that can block telepathic signals. Also new abilities: Teleportation, ability to phase though solid matter." Behind his back Wraith was wringing his hands against the rope, finally he broke skin and started to bleed. His acid blood instantly ate through the ropes and in a single fluid movement he lept from his chair, turned invisible, and snatched up a loaded dart from the desk. Logan lept for him, clawing blindly, he felt the prick of the dart, and the slow stiffening paralysis. Logan couldn't move. 


	4. Duct Tape can do anything

Thanks to you reviewers! I really appreciate your reviews! To all youse who read and don't review, E' chu ta! Even insults are better than nothing :P so review!  
  
  
  
Wraith was about to paralyze the professor next when the professor sent a mental blast into his head. He staggered backwards, flickering in and out of visibility, but he wasn't to hurt to fail sticking the dart into Rouge's hand when she made a grab for him.  
  
As Rouge froze up, Wraith dropped the dart and grabbed his head instead, grimacing. The professor was inside his skull, giving him a brain whooping, he felt his consciousness slipping away but he forced himself to use an old trick that was handy for getting telepaths out of your head. He snapped a vivid memory from his past to the top of his consciousness. A close up of a woman's face, her beauty ruined by the expression of agony and dread, her mouth open wide. Then came the scream, ear splitting, piercing; and in that scream was the thickest concentration of suffering, dispair, loathing, terror, and anguish imaginable. Professor releases Wraiths mind, the mental scream tearing into his own head and cutting into his soul. Wraith took this fleet opportunity to vault over the desk and forcefully punch the pressure points in the professors neck, the professor went limp in his chair. Wraith was numb to his own memory, he had had that nightmare too many times to be affected by it anymore.  
  
Just then a knock was heard at the door. Scott called, " Professor? Are you in there?"  
  
Wraith thought, "Damn." He thought quickly as he re-armed himself and put his trench coat back on. How the heck was he going to get Wolverine and the professor down to the car? He stopped when he came to one pouch of poison, perfect. The extremely rare concoxion was from the Amazon rain forests, and only the most learned witch doctors could make it, it hadn't taken Wraith long to get his hands on some when he learned of it. He ignored Scott's pounding and calling as he quickly mixed it with an anti- paralysis herb and put the mixture into a dart and injected Wolverine with it. The stuff would control Logan's body vocally for a period of an hour or so. Wolverine wouldn't be able to do anything until Wraith told him to, and when Wraith made a command Wolverine wouldn't be able to disobey.  
  
"Pick up the professor, walk downstairs and out to the front gate."  
  
Logan picked up the professor, zombie like while Wraith turned invisible and opened the door. He gave the unsuspecting Scott a solid punch in the nose and twirled him around so that he was pressed face first up against the wall. Wraith pulled out a roll of duct tape while keeping Scott pinned with his knee. He wrapped a strip of duct tape around scott's head over his glasses so they couldn't come off, and one around his mouth. He then proceeded to tape Scott to the wall, using the whole roll, taping Scott head to foot so he couldn't move an inch. By now Logan was waiting out by the front gate. No one else was there to get in their way, for Jean was on a date with Duncan, Spyke was off skateboarding somewhere, Storm was off trying to FIND Spyke, and Hank was downstairs in the laboratory, deeply absorbed in one of his expiraments. Rouge still stood in the professors office, fuming internally but unable to move her body. Wraith directed his temporary slave to load professor into the car, tie him up, get in the car, and knock himself out, which Logan did without protest. Wraith got into the drivers seat and pulled away from the mansion. He thought, "4 down, 0 to go. Stage 1 complete." 


	5. Laboratory

Logan's mind screamed at his body, " Wake up! Move!" but his body didn't obey. Even though he had rendered himself unconscious, his healing factor had ensured he wasn't out for long.  
  
"Wake up." Wraith ordered Logan, Logan's body snapped to attention. The car had parked in some kind of hidden garage.  
  
"Carry the professor and Shadowcat."  
  
Logan's body swung the professor's limp form over one shoulder, and Kitty's over the other. Wraith carried Kurt.  
  
"Follow me." Wraith turned and strode through a door, zombie Logan trailing behind. They came to a plain looking room with a thick carpet. Wraith frowned slightly at this, he disliked thick carpets, they compressed under his feet and gave his position away. He waited for the Doctor to come, this WAS the place where he was instructed to bring the kidnapees. His patience was fathomless; he was early after all.  
  
A door opened and Doctor Apolask entered, he was tall and wore a long whit lab coat, rubber gloves, a hair cap and surgeons mask. He also had gleaming sadistic eyes. (weirdo) He said, " Ah Wraith, exellent." The doctor eyed Logan, not knowing why he was helping Wraith, but he let it slide, figuring that Wraith had his methods. "Follow me." He said. He led Wraith and Logan with their respective burdens into a large, ill-lit laboratory with the whole test tubes and beakers and Van-Dee Graff generators thing going on. A typical evil scientist lab.  
  
The centerpiece of the room was a huge diabolical machine. In the center was a large metal sphere, off of which sprouted two large tubes which connected to two helmet-like headpieces which were placed at the head of two tables. Also on the tables were metal straps designed to hold anyone down, and keep their head in the head-piece. A large control consul was also hooked up to the sphere, and the machine also sported many other mechanical devices, too complicated to describe.  
  
Logan saw the machine and his blood ran cold, despite lack of being ordered to do so. It didn't look good, not good at all. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end….a muscle in his leg tightened, he tried to make a fist and one of his fingers twitched. The control potion was beginning to wear off, but not before he found himself strapping Kurt and Kitty into the two tables after he put the Professor in a sort of large glass cage. His mind fought against his body, trying with all his might. Finally, when Wraith ordered him to stand by the wall where there were several chains and shackles attached, he managed to stop himself. A faint expression of displeasure crossed Wraith's face as he stated, "The control is wearing off." Wraith then proceeded to chain Logan to the wall in a way that his claws were pointing to nothing and he wouldn't be able to twist free. Dr. Apolask said, "Thank you Wraith, I find your services most effective and will likely be wanting them again very soon."  
  
Wraith replied, "If the price is sufficient. Speaking of which, please pay me now, I haven't got all of eternity."  
  
"Aah, yes of course. Worry not Wraith, you will receive the appropriate payment very shortly." 


End file.
